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Scotland finished fourth in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations with 11 points after two wins and three defeats. It is the same position they finished in 2024, albeit with one point less.
Going into the Six Nations there was talk from outside Scottish rugby circles that this was the year that Scotland would fulfil their potential and produce a strong challenge for the title.
Those closer to action week in, week out knew that Gregor Townsend’s team needed to produce more consistent performances, and that on the basis of probability they would do well to finish third.
After all, the best Scotland have finished since 2020 was third in 2023. All the other years they finished fourth with anywhere between 10 and 15 points.
Scotland certainly missed the directness of the injured captain and centre Sione Tuipulotu, and while Tom Jordan showed his class, they missed the platform that Tuipulotu provides to set Huw Jones, Duhan Van Merwe, Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn running outside him.
Their inability to capitalise on territory was shown against France. Despite gaining more territory, beating more defenders, making more passes, making more offloads, and enjoying more attacking minutes, they scored one try to France’s four.
The cause is obvious. In the same match Scotland made more handling errors and conceded more turnovers.
A lack of Aberdeen Angus in the engine room doesn’t help, especially against the behemoths of France and England, and one wonders how long tighthead prop Zander Ferguson can keep producing 80-minute performances, as he did at the Stade de France.
That said, had that last minute Finn Russell conversion gone over at Twickenham, then we would have looked on their campaign in a different light. It would have been another memorable performance in a Townsend era featuring many.
Arguably Scotland are punching above their weight. This is a team populated by two teams in United Rugby Championship (URC) and exiles in England and France, compared to four in Wales, who finished eight points behind.
Can we really knock them for that?